intentional – Mark S. Brown

Do You Know the Three Words of Success?

Everyone has goals they would like to achieve. Normally success does not occur by accident. You can increase your level of success by learning a process for growing and achieving.

Let’s review the three words of success that you should know. These three words provide the basis of success regardless of the goal.

1. Awareness: The first step towards success is awareness. If you want to get from where you are to where you want to be, you have to start by becoming aware of the choices you are making. Some choices lead you towards your goal, and other choices are moving you away from your goal. No matter your goal, expanded awareness helps you make better choices.

2. Intentionality: The second step towards success is intentionality. Take action to turn your dream into reality. What you do matters. Your goal is attainable if you face reality, know where you are starting, know the cost to succeed, and then intentionally work at success daily.

3. Accountability: The third step is being accountable; not being accountable to someone else, but to yourself. The biggest gap in our success is the difference between what we know and what we do. Regardless of the goal we are trying to achieve, our knowledge is greater than our action. To be most effective most people need a third person or a neutral partner to help them with accountability.

Whatever your plan for success, you should continually grow and raise your awareness, act intentionally, and find someone to help hold you accountable to your goals. By continually taking these three steps, your level of success becomes unlimited. It won’t keep you from encountering set backs and making mistakes, but it will allow you to learn from your failure and moving forward.

A mastermind group is an incredibly powerful way to increase your awareness. Visit our mastermind page for upcoming events. http://newroadsleadership.com/masterminds

Living the 15 Laws of Growth

In August, Angelica and I had the opportunity to spend four days in Orlando with the John Maxwell team. This is an event that is held twice a year for John’s coaches. During the event new coaches are certified, and existing coaches are able to continue their training and growth. We were fortunate in having John with us for all four days. He was teaching and pouring into us his knowledge and experience. These four days are a clear example of John’s book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. Here are a few examples:

The Law of Intentionality: Growth Doesn’t Just Happen – You have to be intentional about growth. Find opportunities to stretch yourself and learn from others. By attending the event, Angelica and I created intent for us to grow as coaches.

The Law of Consistency: Motivation Gets You Going – Discipline Keeps You Growing – Many training and certification programs are over once you complete a certain requirement. John’s team continues to meet consistently after certification. John’s coaches continue to grow by consistently working to grow.

The Law of Environment: Growth Thrives in Conducive Surroundings – The JMT events are filled with positive, encouraging, challenging energy. We are challenged and supported every step of the way. It is a growth environment.

The Law of the Rubber Band: Growth Stops When You Lose the Tension Between Where You Are and Where You Could Be – The John Maxwell Team is a team of coaches, but every member builds their future differently. Some are coaches, some are pastors, some are public speakers, some are trainers, some are certified only for their own personal growth. During this event we get to learn how different people are using John’s training to help others. It creates the tension we need to continue to grow.

The Law of Modeling: It’s Hard to Improve When You Have No One but Yourself to Follow – Sitting in your house reading one of John’s books will help you improve. But it does not have the same impact as when you learn from others. With these events, we get to follow John, and his teaching team directly. They are great role models for growth.

The Law of Contribution: Growing Yourself Enables You to Grow Others – Angelica and I continue to grow so we can be more successful in helping others. We will never be good enough to stop growing. John continues to be a river, pouring more training into us. He expects the same of us. We will continue to coach, train, and help others.

Intentional Sacrifice

When I was a kid, I used to collect marbles and baseball cards. Unlike my friends I did not like trading. I always wanted to keep what I had. Looking back I think they were happier with their collections, than I was with mine. They made multiple trades with good cards and bad cards, to get the few cards they truly wanted.

The Law of Sacrifice from John Maxwell’s, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership says, “A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up.” All through life we are faced with choices. We cannot continuously progress without giving up things within our comfort zone. It includes choices as simple as baseball cards, and as complex as our current job. But not making a choice is, by default, a choice to remain the same.

Change happens in our lives. We can’t stop it, but we can become more intentional about our changes. A coach can help us see opportunities by raising our awareness. A coach helps us see the decisions we made by default.

If you find yourself avoiding decisions, or only living within your comfort zone, then I would suggest you could benefit from some reflection on your opportunities. Opportunities you may not even see. If you feel stuck, finding a professional coach can help. All of us can be more intentional when it comes to The Law of Sacrifice.